Ben Hunte (born 18 October 1992) is a British investigative journalist, presenter and senior reporter at

Vice News Vice News (stylized as VICE News) is Vice Media's current affairs channel, producing daily documentary essays and video through its website and YouTube channel. It promotes itself on its coverage of "under-reported stories". Vice News was create ...

. He previously worked for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

and was the broadcaster's first LGBT correspondent. He went on to be the BBC's West Africa correspondent. In May 2022, Ben Hunte was listed on the

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

30 Under 30 list.

Early life and education

Hunte was born in London to Caribbean parents. He studied at the

University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus , mottoeng = A City is Built on Wisdom , established = 2000 , type = Private , officer_in_charge = , chairman = Admiral Tan Sri Dato' Setia Mohd Anwar Bin Hj Mohd Nor (Retir ...

on an all-expenses-paid scholarship, graduating in 2014 with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in Neuroscience. During his time there, he became president of the Students' Association and was co-founding editor of the student magazine ''Ignite''. He later graduated with a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in Broadcast Journalism from

City, University of London City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...

, which he also attended on a full scholarship. Hunte has since received an Alumni Laureate Award from the University of Nottingham, and an XCity Award from City University.

Career

While working in strategy at Google, Hunte started a YouTube channel and social media presence. After hitting 50,000 subscribers he left Google to become a full-time influencer and trained to be a journalist. Starting at BBC News as an intern, Hunte went on to be a

news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

for BBC News Africa and hosted ''What's New?'', the BBC's first programme and digital service for children. In 2019, Hunte became the

's first official

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

correspondent, reporting for all BBC and

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

platforms. In 2020, Hunte took the top spot in the Guardian and DIVA Magazine's Pride Power List. Hunte was also awarded "Journalist of the Year" by One Young World, and was a finalist for Specialist Journalist of the Year at the British Journalism Awards, as well as Young Talent of the Year at the Royal Television Society Awards. He then took on the role of the network's West Africa correspondent in March 2021, reporting from across the continent, in places such as

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

, Senegal. After working with the BBC for five years, Hunte announced his departure in September 2021 to join

as a Senior Reporter. In May 2022, Ben Hunte was listed on

Forbes 30 Under 30 ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 is a set of lists of people under 30 years old issued annually by ''Forbes'' magazine and some of its regional editions. The American lists recognize 600 business and industry figures, with 30 selected in twenty industries ...

Europe list for media and marketing.

Personal life

Hunte has talked extensively about life as a Black gay man and the abuse he receives being in the public eye, as well as his experiences of sexual abuse. He appeared on the cover of ''Attitudes 25th anniversary edition in March 2019, and in the Evening Standard's ES Magazine.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunte, Ben 1991 births Living people 21st-century British journalists Alumni of City, University of London Black British writers British male journalists English people of Guyanese descent English people of Jamaican descent British gay writers Journalists from London LGBT Black British people British LGBT journalists English LGBT people People from Walthamstow People from Woodford, London 21st-century British LGBT people